Tennessee
weather has its averages, extremes and the just plain weird.

A visitor
walked into the MEMPHIS WEEKLY LEDGER office with a jar of snakes. It was
January 15, 1877 and the visitor claimed these snakes fell from the sky.
Several others corroborated the story.
He said the rain was a drizzle, the drizzle turned into a torrent and
when the torrent subsided, residents of the two-block area on Vance between
Orleans and Lauderdale found thousands of dark brown snakes slithering across
the ground.

Most weather
is not that dramatic. But seldom does weather stay exactly to averages. The
difference between weather and climate is simply summed up in an old saying –
“Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.” Let’s start out with
climate.

The Southeast
Regional Climate Center at the University of North Carolina has compiled
historic averages of temperature, rainfall and snowfall of all of Tennessee’s
weather stations. Some stations have been monitoring weather since the mid
nineteenth century but in order to get an average climatologist usually look at
a thirty-year time span. Looking at the averages paints a picture of climate in
Tennessee.

Most of
Tennessee stays close to the same high temperature in July. Historic data has
records the average high temperatures for July in the high 80’s or low 90’s,
with Memphis and Savannah averaging 92 degrees. They are the warm spots of the
state. But the average July high temperature at most weather reporting stations
stays within about 5 degrees of each other, so moving from Memphis to Knoxville
to escape the heat only means an average 4 degree break. However, thanks to the mountains in the east,
we do have some summer havens.

Mountain City,
which is the farthest northeastern weather station, averages an 82 degree high
temperature in July. . The stations at
Crossville, Monterey, Jamestown and Monteagle, also mountain towns, average
just 2 degrees warmer than Mountain City. Mountains do interesting things with
weather, as you will soon see.

As those
mountain people in the Northeast are enjoying their temperate summers, they pay
for it in the winter while West Tennessee flatlanders enjoy relative warmth.
Mountain City, Tazewell and Oneida average January low temperature of 22 to 24
degrees as does Waverly in Middle Tennessee. December 30, 1917 Mountain City
residents must have been begging for those 22 degree temperatures when
Tennessee hit its record low temperature of minus 32 degrees.

Ice flows damaged these river boats on the

Mississippi near
Memphis in January, 1918.

Courtesy Memphis/Shelby County Public Library

Our urban environments can affect temperature for several
reasons which work together to create what climatologists call “the urban heat
island effect.” Davis Nolan, chief meteorologist with WKRN-TV in Nashville has
been observing the weather in the state’s largest city since 1981. “In SUMMER I
estimate the temperature over the concrete in Nashville can range some 4 to 8
degrees above the official thermometer at the airport taken over grass,” he
says. “The same official temperature is one to 2 degrees warmer than surrounding
towns (also taken over a grass field but with less concrete.) This is less
pronounced over a winter day but I estimate the temperature is still two to
three degrees warmer over concrete on a sunny day.”

David Gaffen, David Holtz and Terry Getz studied weather
data in the Smokey Mountains in An Evaluation of Temperature Variations
around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and their Associated Synoptic
WeatherPatterns. The researchers looked at 10 years of data from
five National Park Weather stations – park headquarters, Cades Cove,
Oconaluftee (North Carolina), Mount Le Conte and Newfound Gap, plus Knoxville’s
McGhee- Tyson Airport.

Knoxville generally stayed a bit warmer than the park,
because of the urban heat island effect and its lower elevation. Park
headquarters is located in a valley, and had temperatures averaging a
difference between 12 and 15 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than Mount Le Conte and
between 7 and 10 degrees warmer than Newfound Gap.

Rainfall in West and Middle Tennessee is similar throughout
the area. But in the mountains a
phenomenon known as orographic lifting forces warm, moist air rapidly aloft
causing it to cool. Since cool air cannot hold as much water vapor as warm air,
the water vapor condenses into clouds and those clouds produce rain and snow.
Ronnie Millsap’s song “Smokey Mountain Rain” was both a country hit of 1980 AND
climatologically correct as some of the state’s wettest areas are in the
mountains. 57 inches of precipitation
are the average in Athens, Copperhills, Lawrenceburg and Sewanee and 58 inches
is average in Rockwood. The wettest town in the state is Monteagle averaging
61.8 inches of precipitation. But there
is a place in Tennessee that makes even Monteagle look arid. The National Park
Service reports an average of 85 inches of precipitation at Clingman’s Dome,
the state’s highest point. That is greater than the average yearly amount of
rainfall in Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon combined.

Dr Henri Grissino-Mayer, a geography professor at the
University of Tennessee-Knoxville, has studied the climate of the Smokies. “Any
type of mountain chain that runs north south is going to significantly affect
climate regimes on the west side of the chain and the east of the chain and in
the mountains themselves. In the northern hemisphere all of our weather moves
from west to east,” he says. “The
climate on the eastern side of the mountains is different on the western side,”
he says “That is why the Smokey Mountains have so much rain. All mountain ranges
are effective rain traps”

Out west moisture moves from the Pacific, is forced up the
mountains and on the other side of the mountains the weather is drier. Think of
those deserts past the Sierra and Cascade Mountains. “The Appalachians do not create a rain shadow
east like we see in the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains because we have quite a bit of moisture
coming out of the Gulf and the lower latitudes of the Atlantic are on the wet
side of subtropical high pressure that dominates the Mid Atlantic called the
Bermuda High. Well still have quite a bit of pressure driven moisture east of
the mountains. In the Southeastern US we have several moisture drivers.”

Thanks to the cooler temperatures, parts of the Smokies are
like pieces of the north removed- the far north. “Because of the moisture
regime and the unique temperature regime we have vegetation exactly like you
find in New England. The northern hardwood forest found in Tennessee is the
species you would normally associate with New England. We also have truly
remarkable spruce-fur forest. These are only found in the highest elevations
and in the highest latitudes. In Canada they are called boreal forests. That to
me is fascinating we can see a boreal forest in Tennessee.”

This tornado was photographed

near Paris March 11, 1942.
Courtesy

National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration

Climate stays, for the most part, the same. Weather is where
the drama is found. And when one thinks of drama one thinks of tornadoes.

Most associate tornadoes with the Midwest area known as
“Tornado Alley” because they have seen dramatic photos and video of the
twisters plowing through fields of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. And it is true
those areas are often hit, but they also make for better pictures with flat
lands and few trees. Here in “Dixie Alley” tornadoes are more likely to form at
night with Tennessee leading the state in nighttime twisters. Dixie Alley has
more population density than West Texas, trees hide the approaching danger and
high humidity mean more of them are concealed in rainstorms.

The deadliest day in Tennessee for tornadoes was March 21
and 22, 1952 when from 6 PM to 1 AM sixty- seven Tennesseans were killed,
mostly in West Tennessee. The counties with the most deaths were Chester (23),
Dyer (16), Henderson (11), Fayette (7), Hardeman (4) and Hickman (3). Gibson
and Carroll counties also had fatalities.

May 10, 1933 a twister traveled northeast from Livingston to
Byrdstown killing thirty-five, thirty-three of whom were in the tiny town of
Beatty Swamps, six miles north of Livingston. Today maps do not show a
community of Beatty Swamps, only a road and cemetery bearing that name. And the
largest tornado outbreak in US history struck several states April 3, 1974
killing thirty-three in Tennessee.

More recently a West Tennessee outbreak February 5, 2008
killed thirty-two Tennesseans. Jackson was hit and fifty-one were injured at
Union University. Over the last fifteen years it seems Jackson has had worse
tornado luck than cities of “Tornado Alley” as part of “Dixie Alley.” January
17, 1999 six were killed when a tornado hit south and central Jackson. The city
erected Unity Park downtown to commemorate the tragedy two years later. May 4, 2003
downtown Jackson and the memorial, was hit by a tornado. Two were killed in
downtown Jackson and nine in Denmark about twelve miles away.

A tornado also went through the heart of Nashville April 19,
1998, later tearing up the grounds of Andrew Jackson’s estate. There is a myth
tornadoes do not hit large cities. Tennesseans know better.

Weather has played an important part in Tennessee’s
history. An early spring storm near
Camden March 5, 1963 brought down a small plane forever silencing the voices of
country music stars Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cline’s
manager and pilot, Randy Hughes.

A snowstorm in Memphis changed its history. March 21, 1968
was a rainy Spring day with a forecast of cold weather later, but forecasters
expected the rain to have retreated by the time cold air arrived in
Memphis. Retired Memphis TV
meteorologist Dave Brown was working at WHBQ radio which at the time was near
the University of Memphis. “We got a call in the afternoon from a woman saying
it was snowing silver dollar-sized flakes in Frayser (a neighborhood on the
northwest side of Memphis). We dismissed it but then looked outside and that is
what we saw.” At 4:22 PM, the Weather
Bureau (which became the National Weather Service in 1971) at the airport
reported snowfall, but Brown said no one was expecting it to stick to the warm
ground. This was the first day of spring and just two days earlier Memphis had
a high of 79 degrees. “But it just kept falling,” he remembers. The airport
closed after the last flight out and snow was still coming down. By the time
the snow ended the next day at 1:30 PM, 16.1 inches had fallen. The snow left
just as quickly as it fell. “Within thirty-six to forty-eight hours there was
no trace of the snow,” Brown says. March
25 the temperature reached 62 degrees.

The storm made history not as Memphis’ largest snowfall-
another March storm in 1892 was larger. This snow made history because it
canceled the arrival of Martin Luther King to Memphis. He had planned to march
with striking garbage workers on March 22. King instead arrived March 28.
Convicted assassin James Earl Ray arrived in Memphis April 3 and King was
killed the next day.

Other historical events:

In what was called “The Storm of the Century” on March 13
and 14, 1993 snow and snow fall records fell in the eastern part of the nation
when a powerful low pressure system mixed moisture and cold to cover about
two-thirds of the state. The snowiest spot in the lower 48 that day was Mount
LeConte with 60 inches. Chattanooga had 20 inches. Knoxville’s daily newspapers
were not published on March 13th. But all of West Tennessee plus the
Middle Tennessee stations of Savannah and Dickson only received trace amounts
of snow.

Eighty-three people died in Memphis July, 1980 in a heat
wave that gripped most of Middle America. That is the number are those who had
listed on the death certificates heat exhaustion, heat stroke or systemic
hyperthermia, according to a study for American Geriatrics. However, the same
study reported 90 more people died that month from cardiovascular emergencies
than the previous July, indicating 83 was probably a conservative number. Most
of the dead were poor and elderly without adequate air conditioning and kept
their windows shut for fear of crime. Memphis hit its all-time record
temperature that month at 108 degrees- a record that still stands. As for the
hottest recorded temperature in the state, that was at Perryville near
Mousetail Landing State Park which recorded 113 degrees twice in 1930.

August, 1989 was a wet month for Memphis. When the month was
winding down, intense heat, high humidity and a very slow breeze covered the
city with haze. On August 30, the high hit 92 degrees with relative humidity
anywhere from 60 to 90 percent. Those factors combined created conditions that
hastened the decay of anything organic, increased mold and fungus growth,
trapped in pollutants which combined to cause residents to complain the entire
city smelled like fish.

Also in Memphis July 22, 2003 morning commuters thought they
were seeing a tornado. Extreme winds estimated by the National Weather Service
at up to 100 miles per hour raced through Memphis doing $500 million in damage
and leaving some residents without power for up to two weeks. “Hurricane Elvis”
was the name locals gave it, though it was neither a tornado nor a hurricane.
It was called a “derecho” or straight line winds. Centuries-old trees were
pulled out of the ground like weeds, walls of buildings and power lines were
blown down and one person was killed during the event. Six others had deaths
relating to the storm such as asphyxiation from gas powered generators.

On I-75 over the Hiwassee River near Calhoun, dense fog
December 11, 1990 caused two tractor trailers to collide. Due to the low
visibility, other vehicles began colliding creating a chain reaction traffic
accident. Ninety-nine vehicles were involved resulting in twelve deaths and forty-two
injuries.

Details are a bit sketchy, such as the date and
circumstances of how this happened, but in an article on the National Weather
Services’ website Mark Rose, meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s
Old Hickory office quotes SYMON’S MONTHLY METEOROLOGICAL MAGAZINE from
September, 1869. The magazine said on a hot summer day five miles from Ashland
City in Cheatham County “sort of a whirlwind” witnessed by some two hundred
people was pulling in leaves and branches and setting them on fire. The
whirlwind described as “a fiery cylinder” eventually singed horse’s manes,
burnt hay and eventually farmer Ed Sharp’s home. As it passed over a river, a
column of steam lifted into the air about one-half mile high, according to
witnesses.

April 10, 1994 a lightning strike killed one person and
injured eighteen during an ultimate Frisbee match in Antioch.

A few Tennessee names are associated with weather and
climate. Former Vice President Al Gore’s advocacy for governments to change
their carbon output to reduce man made global warming has won him a Nobel Prize
AND controversy from detractors saying temperature change is a natural a
phenomenon. Most climate scientists –over 90 percent last survey- side with
Gore. There was also Isaac Cline who was featured in
the book Isaac’s Storm by Eric Larson. A native of Monroe County, Cline
grew up fascinated by weather. As an adult he was the U.S. Weather Bureau’s
meteorologist in Galveston, Texas when the 1900 hurricane struck the city. This
became the country’s largest weather disaster.
The book presents a fascinating account of the storm and the times.

There are also those eyewitnesses who keep those weather
events alive through their memories. Red Oliver is a former mayor of Moscow,
one of many towns that were hit hard in the deadliest tornado day in the
state’s history. Sitting at Brad’s Barbecue in Moscow in 2010, he remembered
that night fifty-eight years ago and being about 300 yards from the tornado. At
the time Moscow was town of about 400 people. “There’s just a few of us left
that remember,” he says.

“We were at my father in law’s house watching the Friday
Night Fights on TV. Then all of a sudden the television started acting up in
every kind of way. Then I heard this roar. My daddy in law said ‘that’s a
train.’ I said ‘that ain’t no train!’ so I ran out into the yard and when I did
the whole ground was shaking. And I saw a cloud coming through with a ball of
fire. It set one house on fire.
Everything it passed it wiped clean. It wiped everything except this one
house with a chimney and by the chimney there was a dog laying there with some
puppies. It was not touched but the whole house and everything was gone. There
were some monster pine trees and they were just cut off about four feet high.
When it got on past you could hear people screaming. Bloody murder type of
screaming. Those really hurt were kind of groaning. We had a truck with hay and
put the people in the truck.”

On Old Stateline Road west of the Wolf River “there was a
house sitting on the hill. When we got out there the house was separated lying
in the road. There was an old lady sitting on top of the house without a
scratch. Her husband and grandson were underneath. The couch protected the
grandson, but the old man died later. There was a man on Highway 76 looking for
his wife that had died. His eyeball was at his cheek.”

“In the Wolf River bottoms you would see washing machines
and dryers hanging in the trees. Those pine trees were monster things it took a
powerful wind. You still have some of those stumps there but they have sprouted
out now. Usually you see tornadoes knock the trees down but these were just
gone. If it had come through the main drag it would have wiped the town out.”

From tornadoes to Mountain snows, from sultry summers to the
dogwoods of Spring to the colors of fall, the Volunteer State physically and
culturally has been shaped by its climate.